By ANDREA JAMES, P-I REPORTER

Published 10:00 pm, Friday, March 13, 2009

J.C. Penney Co. Inc. has become the first major department store chain to go "fur-free," shunning products that are made with real animal fur, The Humane Society of the United States said Friday.

"They are the first department store chain in the United States to go fur-free, which is hugely significant," said Pierre Grzybowski, campaign manager for the society's fur-free campaign. "There's been many, many other types of stores that have gone fur-free over the past several years -- this is the first of the big traditional department store chains."

The Plano, Texas-based retailer does not appear to have made a formal policy announcement. But a company vice president confirmed the policy in a Feb. 24 letter to The Humane Society, the society says.

"So that you can accurately answer questions from your constituents on that subject, we confirm that J.C. Penney continues to have no plans for fur items in its merchandise assortments," Robert Hood, a company vice president and associate general counsel, wrote in the letter.

J.C. Penney did not return a phone call seeking comment Friday.

J.C. Penney has had run-ins with The Humane Society in the past, particularly in 2006 over how some jackets were labeled.

"What we found was, they were selling some jackets that were trimmed with raccoon dog fur and they had the jackets mislabeled as raccoon," Grzybowski said. "Ultimately, they went fur-free, and that's the most we can ask for."

Raccoon dogs are fox-sized animals indigenous to Asia that live in small groups.

The Humane Society keeps a list of 130 fur-free stores. Bellevue-based Eddie Bauer is among them. Online retailer Overstock.com is on the list, but Seattle-based Amazon.com is not.

"It would be great if Nordstrom would follow J.C. Penney's lead on this and go fur-free as well," he said Friday. "We're in contact with many, if not most, companies asking them to stop selling fur, and it's great when one of them decides to take a leadership position."